Guatemala: Fuego eruption 'cooked people trapped in their homes'

Residents give accounts of moments after a devastating volcanic eruption that killed at least 109 people and left 197 missing.

09 Jun 2018 17:19 GMT

Shocked survivors of a devastating explosive eruption of a volcano in Guatemala have said they were not warned in advance to escape a flow of hot gas and volcanic mud that consumed their villages and killed at least 109 people.

Volcan de Fuego, in southern Guatemala, began spewing streams of red-hot lava and shooting out thick smoke and ash on Sunday that rained down onto several regions and the capital, Guatemala City, 30km away from the hardest-hit area.

Nearly 200 people are still missing.

"If we would have received a warning we would have left our house [earlier] and many people's lives would have been saved," Denni, a survivor, told Al Jazeera.

"I don't know about others, but they didn't warn us. We didn't know about the eruption until the lava was coming down."

A communication breakdown between a disaster agency and volcanologists in Guatemala delayed evacuations as gas and ash clouds cascaded down the Fuego volcano in its most violent eruption in four decades, authorities have admitted.

However, David Ovalle, coordinator for Guatemala's national disaster management agency (CONRED), said some residents ignored evacuation orders after sensors picked up an increase in volcanic activity hours before the eruption.

"All of the communities received warnings. And obviously, we don't have the authority to order an evacuation," he said.

"We make recommendations, and it's the residents who decide whether to evacuate or not."

Al Jazeera's David Mercer, reporting from Escuintla, in southcentral Guatemala, said CONRED "has come under fire for possible negligence".